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Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions

Reuters

(Adds Americana, Sabanci Holding, Ethiopian Airlines, Greene King, Bonnier AB, Vale SA)

Jan 13 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Tuesday:

** Former Xstrata Plc Chief Executive Mick Davis is considering a bid for Vale SA's nickel business, the Bloomberg reported.

** The sale of Kuwaiti food company Americana is close to being put on hold, weighed down by differences on price and a difficult environment for deal-making, three sources familiar with the matter said.

** Ethiopian Airlines is in talks with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to purchase stakes in their carriers and manage them, its chief executive told Reuters.

** British pubs group Greene King said its shareholders gave their blessing to its plan to acquire rival Spirit Pub Company SPRTC.L for 774 million pounds ($1.17 billion).

** The Polish unit of Swedish publishing group Bonnier AB has agreed to buy Poland's business portals operator Bankier.pl from South African e-commerce and media firm Naspers Ltd for an undisclosed sum, Bonnier said.

** French telecoms group Orange hopes to close a deal to sell its stake in UK mobile operator EE to British telecoms group BT quite soon and will look at further consolidation of the French telecoms market along with other opportunities once the deal is done.

** British buyout group Terra Firma is launching the sale of German motorway service station group Tank & Rast in a potential 2 billion euro ($2.36 billion) deal, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

** Alibaba Group Holding Ltd founder Jack Ma and other investors will pump up to 10 billion yuan ($1.61 billion) into Chinese drugmaker Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings Co Ltd to help fuel its online expansion.

** Hyundai Motor Co said its chairman and his son failed to sell about $1.25 billion worth of shares in affiliate Hyundai Glovis, complicating succession moves at South Korea's second-biggest family-owned conglomerate.

** Private equity firm GTCR LLC is selling British financial services company Premium Credit Ltd to buyout group Cinven Partners LLP for 462 million pounds ($700 million).

** Eli Lilly & Co signed two separate deals with Merck & Co Inc and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co to test combinations of its cancer treatments with two recently approved therapies that belong to a promising new class of drugs.

** Citigroup has received 10 bids for its consumer banking business in Egypt, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday, with banks from the United Arab Emirates heavily represented among the interested parties.

** Sabanci Holding, a Turkish conglomerate with interests that range from energy to banking, said it sold a 51 percent stake in SASA polyester for $102 million.

** Indian restaurant search services provider Zomato acquired U.S.-based rival Urbanspoon for about $50 million in one of the biggest overseas deals by an Indian startup and a company executive said it was in talks to raise about $100 million in fresh funding.

** Malaysia will scrap a proposed $20 billion merger that would have created the country's biggest bank, after CIMB Holdings and RHB Capital failed to agree on new deal terms, people familiar with the matter said.

** Eco World Investment Co Ltd (EW Investment), a Malaysian-owned private vehicle based in Britain, entered into an agreement with Ballymore Group to develop three residential projects in London worth 2.2 billion pounds ($3.34 billion). The two firms formed a joint venture company that will acquire the three sites from Ballymore Group for 428.7 million pounds.

** The chief executive of Smith & Nephew, the medical device maker that has been the subject of persistent takeover rumors, on Monday said mergers designed to gain size do not change market share dynamics in the hip and knee replacement business.

** Aer Lingus's largest shareholder Ryanair on Tuesday said it expected International Airlines Group to make a new bid for the former Irish flag carrier within days.

($1 = 0.66 pounds) ($1 = 0.85 euros) ($1 = 0.2941 Kuwaiti Dinars) (Compiled by Rosmi Shaji and Shailaja Sharma in Bengaluru)